Perfect Ending

Yesterday I had the perfect ending to the perfect day. To start with the day was just generally a bad day. It started off bad when I woke up at 3:00 AM thinking the Ross Perot, the one time owner of my company, had passed away. I know, weird but I still got up and Googled it just to make certain that I had not suddenly been blessed with psychic abilities and foresight. Next, the day just went bonkers because it is approaching the holidays and pretty much all of my team took the day off, which means that is the day when everybody needs something....so I was crazy busy switching gears all day long.

The one thing that I was looking forward to was getting together with my group from church to have a potluck and celebrate the Winter Solstice. I was to pick up a meat and cheese plate. I, of course, waited until the last minute to do this and was sorely disappointed in my selections, however, I found something at the grocery store, grabbed it and ran.

The church is about a 20 minute drive from my house, so I left in plenty of time as I wanted to get there early and help set up. I had brought some candles as I thought that would be nice to help set the mood. However, that was not to be. As I'm driving along at about 70 miles an hour, I start to hear the wubba wubba sound that just keeps getting louder. I at first thought it was a car next to me that was passing me but soon realized that there was nobody there. My car then started to handle strangely, which I initially thought was just the wind pulling it, however, I quickly realized "nope, that ain't the wind". I was a little over a mile from my exit and decided that I could make it as I didn't want to pull over on the side of the highway in the dark. Therefore, I put on my hazards and eased over to the right hand lane and eventually made it to my exit. I saw ahead a Quaker State sign that was all lit up with lots of cars and thought "Oh Yay! A garage right where I need it!!" Turns out that it was a restaurant. (Who knew that there was such a place a Quaker Steak and Lube...)

I get out of my car and walk around to look at the tire expecting to see a flat....It was completedly shredded and I had been driving on the rim. Luckily a nice lady approached me almost immediately and offered her husband up as pit crew.

You will notice in the picture that the tire is still on the car....or rather the rim is ther and the tire is sort of wedged up under the car.

I was so happy to have this person come and change my tire, and another couple of folks offered assistance, which is one reason why I am very happy to be living in Texas and the South where there are still lots of gentlemen out there to always offer a hand. The manager from the restaurant came out as well to see if I just needed air, as they have a air machine on site for free, being a car themed restaurant and all. He quickly realized, and chuckled, that obviously air wouldn't do a whole lot of good at this point. So he offered some coffee to warm me up. I declined as I'm not a coffee drinker.

As my good samaritan worked on my tire, I took the following picture of the path of destruction that my car left as I was pulling into the parking lot:

Yeah, that whole black streak is my tire dissentigrating.

After the tire was changed my GS and I took the car over to the air pump and the men gathered to get air into my spare and make certain that I was okay to head off. I offered to buy my GS and his family dinner, which is what THEY were there for, but he refused and told me to be on my way and be safe and that I would be spending that money on a new tire instead.

I then made it to my church thing about 20 minutes late and then started shaking. Needless to say, this morning I will be heading back to the Firestone place to have them replace this tire and make certain that the other tires are all fine as well. You will recall that I only purchased these tires at the end of September (New Tires).

Anyway, thank you to the nice people who helped me out. I really don't think I could have done that all on my own. I will definitely be sending good karma out to you and will pay this all forward. We have to remember to look out for and take care of one another....
 

Religious Experience X2?

So, this weekend I did a couple of new things (I tell you this is turning into quite the adventurous year). On Friday afternoon, I had an appointment for an hour in a flotation tank, sometimes called a sensory deprivation tank. I first learned of these tanks many years ago while watching The Simpsons. In the episode Make Room for Lisa, Homer screws up and agrees to do something just for Lisa. Because Lisa is having tummy troubles due to stress they opt for a trip in a sensory deprivation tank to aid in getting rid of her stress. Lisa has a magical experience, Homer not so much.

Anyway, I had my own experience this past Friday. Admittedly, I did have a hard time relaxing and figuring out my own rhythm in order to have full appreciation of the experience. The hardest part for me was when the door was closed I felt like I was suffocating. I also could hear myself breathing and really think I may have a deviated septum because it wasn't until I started breathing through my mouth was I able to fully relax and start to fall asleep, of course this was also about the time that my time was up and when the motor came on to swish the water around me it scared the dickens out of me. Prior to relaxing, though, I did enjoy the floating around in the tank pushing myself back and forth between the two side walls or up and down to pushing off from the bottom with my toes and making certain that I kept my hand above my head so as to not bang my head. Since I did this once, and I have a coupon to do it again, I will make another appointment and learn to relax earlier.

The second thing I did this weekend was visit a church. I went to visit Horizon Unitarian Universalist Church. I visited a UU church last Sunday with my folks and had actually been looking at the UU philosophy for over a decade (yeah, it takes me a long time to make a commitment). The people were really welcoming to me. As I sat in the sanctuary, one of the members of the congregation came and introduced herself to me (of course, I suck at remembering names and can't remember her's) she then 'ordered' me to scoot over a seat and she sat with me and talked with me and introduced me to others as they came in. It felt really great to be that welcomed. I mean, they start their welcome in both the bulletin and as the start of the service with the following:

Whoever you are, whomever you love, you are welcome here. You may be young or old, rich or poor and you are welcome here. Whether you walked in with assistance or have special needs, you are welcome here. And regardless of your religious or ethnic origins, you are most welcome here! We are glad you have joined us in our celebration of religious community.  

We do not ask what you believe, nor expect you to think as we do. Rather, our community encourages its members to pursue the deepening of their own religious conviction. This liberal church is united, not by creed, but by a common purpose to embrace the compassionate wisdom of all ages and cultures, in order to realize a community of love, peace, and justice for all. 

The current minister of the church is on sabbatical, so the congregation is having visiting ministers come in and speak. This week was a former member of the congregation who became ordained and now has her own church in Canada. I have to say that today was the most entertaining and enlightening church experience that I think I have ever had. The topic of today's sermon was "Sex" and I'll leave it at that. I feel strongly about this new path that I exploring; all the way down to the affirmation that speaks to the philosophy of this church:

Love is the doctrine of our church,
The quest for truth is its sacrament,
And service is its prayer,
To dwell together in peace,
To seek knowledge in freedom,
To server humanity in harmony with the earth,
Thus do we covenant together. 

I'll keep you informed of my quest.